If you study Japanese and watch anime, you must have noticed that there are several words to refer to life. Seikatsu [生活], inochi [命], and jinsei [人生] are just a few of them. In this article, we will see how to express life in Japanese and its differences.
Have you ever wondered why there are so many words with the same meaning? There are 2 ideograms related to life that make up several Japanese words with this meaning.
First, we have the ideogram sei [生] which, besides life, indicates birth, living, and existing, as well as conveying the idea of something natural and genuine. The second ideogram inochi [命] conveys the idea of life, vitality, destiny, and life force.
These two ideograms can be combined to form the word seimei [生命] which means life and existence. However, it is commonly the word sonzai [存在] that refers to the existence of things.
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The meaning of the word Inochi [命] and derivatives
Let’s start by examining the word inochi [命] which gives an idea of conceptual life, our life force, our lifespan, something important, our foundation and core. People used to use this ideogram as tattoos on their arms to indicate unwavering love.
Thus, this word is commonly used for occasions when our life is at risk, or when we save someone’s life. This word portrays the concept of life and death, and can be used in phrases like being between life and death, having life on another planet, and similar situations.
To understand more about the concept of the ideogram and the word inochi [命], we should expand our vocabulary with other related words that can help us understand better. I will leave a list of derived and related words with inochi [命] below:
Responsive Table: Scroll the table sideways with your finger >>
| Portuguese | Japanese | Romaji |
| Destiny | 運命 | unmei |
| Order, command, decree | 命令 | meirei |
| Death anniversary | 命日 | meinichi |
| Appointment, baptism | 命名 | meimei |
| Risking one’s life | 命がけ | inochigake |
Meaning of seikatsu, jinsei, and words derived from [生]
The ideogram sei [生] is very broad and is part of thousands of words and verbs. It is related to birth, lifestyle, nature, purity, and production. One of the most popular words is seikatsu [生活] which means life, living, sustaining, way of life, and lifestyle.
The word seikatsu is composed of the ideogram for life [生] + activity [活] which also conveys the idea of life and living. The word seikatsu is used to refer to our daily life, such as at school or work, a lifestyle, unlike inochi [命] which refers to our existence.
We also have the word jinsei [人生] which is widely used to refer to the concept of human life, as it is composed with the ideogram [人] which means person. Human life can also be written as jinmei [人命] but again it is linked to saving a life as opposed to the concept of human life [人生].
Interestingly, the ideogram [生] can also be used as a prefix indicating something pure, undiluted, raw, or crude. It is also a counting suffix for growth area and thickness of grams, trees, and natural things. Words like biochemistry, physiology, ecosystem, survival are also composed of [生].
To help further understand the meaning and use of the ideograms [生] and other related ones, we will leave a list of words below and their meanings. I hope you enjoyed the article; if you did, please share and leave your comments or questions.
Responsive Table: Scroll the table sideways with your finger >>
| Portuguese | Japanese | Romaji |
| Birth | 生まれる | umareru |
| Live, exist, earn a living | 生きる | ikiru |
| Production, manufacturing | 生産 | seisan |
| Student | 生徒 | seito |
| Living creature | 生物 | seibutsu |
| Living thing | 生き物 | ikimono |
| Body | 体 | karada |
| Whole life, until death | 一生 | issho |
| Animated, vividly, actively | 生き生き | ikiiki |
| Grow, sprout | 生える | haeru |
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